


And Continued With A Kiss

by critterlady



Series: Misc Marvel Fics [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 03:12:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10732950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/critterlady/pseuds/critterlady
Summary: Continuation ofIt Started With A Cat





	And Continued With A Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozhawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozhawk/gifts).



> Continuation of [It Started With A Cat](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10531446)

Samantha Graham was still confused about the whole alternate reality thing. No one had been able to explain how these “holes” as they called them occurred or how to prevent them. The best that SHIELD had been able to do was develop a method of tracking them. Now they sent out a team to check out each event and locate or contain whatever came through the holes.

Her first week was spent getting acclimated to this new universe. Much of it was very close but there were differences. Some places had different names than she was familiar with, dates of important events might differ from what she knew. She had been nervous, wondering what would happen to her but she had been assured that as soulmate to one of their own, she had no worries. Miss Potts had sat down with her and over the course of two days, they had her new identity established and spread around the world. Now, if anyone chose to search for her, she had a real past. Jewel was a bit harder to explain because in this reality hybrid cats, like Bengals did not exist. Agent Simmons had fallen in love with Jewel, as had many of the staff around the tower. A little research and DNA samples and a program to create Bengal cats in this reality were underway.

After that, she was assigned an apartment in the tower, on the same floor as Agents Simmons and Fitz. They were platonic soulmates who worked together but they each had their own apartment. The fourth apartment was reserved for SHIELD agents with high clearance levels stationed in other parts of the world. During her first week, Samantha learned she had the opportunity to study anything she wanted, cost did not matter. With that in mind, she had decided to give her dream a shot. In no time at all, she was enrolled at the local community college taking theater courses along with cooking classes. The theater classes were just for fun but she had always dreamed of becoming a chef and now she had a chance.

During her downtime, she was free to visit most any area of the tower and she was able to explore the city, accompanied by one of the agents picked by Rumlow for both protection and to act as a guide. Once she started classes, she was picked up and dropped off, along with several other people related to SHIELD employees who were also taking classes. On occasion, she would see Agent Rumlow around the tower but they spent very little time together. She was still confused about the whole “soulmate” thing but she thought he would try to spend more time with her. Frustrated, she turned to Daisy for help, finding her in the gym.

“Every time I see Agent Rumlow, he’s busy training or getting ready for a mission or whatever. I thought being soulmates meant he wanted to be with me.”

Daisy had already spoken to Brock and now she tried to reassure Samantha. “I actually asked him if he was avoiding you. He told me he just wants to give you time to settle in before trying to get to know you.”

“That’s it? Tell him he might as well stop waiting cause I may never get used to this crazy world. In my world, we didn’t have people that could fly or do magic or any of the other amazing things I hear about every day. Our astronauts have never left our solar system. Aliens were just a movie gimmick. There’s no reason not to try to at least be friends. I could use more friends.”

Daisy just nodded as she picked up her tablet. “They’re off on a mission right now but I’ll tell Jack to let him know he doesn’t need to keep waiting. Would you like to start joining our Ladies’ Nights? It’s just a bunch of us getting together for movies most of the time.”

Samantha smiled, “I’d love that.”

“Great, next night is this Friday. Strike won’t be back yet but we can fill you in on life with an agent.”

Daisy paused before leaving the room. “You might want to consider joining one of the self-defense classes offered for families. It’s always a good idea to know how to protect yourself.”

~~~~

Samantha joined the next open self-defense class and the next few days flew by in a blur of classes and continuing to catch up on differences between her old world and this one. Miss Potts had been kind enough as well to arrange a shopping trip where she was accompanied by a woman introduced only as Natasha. The redhead had excellent taste in clothing even if Samantha was surprised at some of the items Natasha insisted she purchase.

When Friday evening arrived, Samantha was more than ready to relax. Daisy had given her instructions to meet everyone on the common floor at 6 pm. Samantha was relieved to see at least a few familiar faces when she stepped off the elevator. She quickly found Daisy and was introduced to several other women. Her anxiety began to rear it’s ugly head once again but Jewel’s rumbling purrs calmed her. Soon she was seated with a glass of wine and cake as the women got caught up and she was shocked when she discovered that Natasha was actually one of the toughest female agents within SHIELD. The next few hours were spent watching movies and discussing men, with the assembled ladies being more than willing to tell her all about Brock and his sometimes annoying habits. Samantha finally left the gathering with Jemma Simmons, making plans to surprise Brock on his return from the Strike mission.

~~~~

Brock all but dragged himself onto the quinjet waiting to evac the team. Jack had been in charge of seeing that the more injured members of the team made it to evac safely while Brock covered their escape. He collapsed onto the ramp as Jack pushed the button to raise it, quickly checking the location of his team.

“Owens is in medical with Johnson. Medics have already seen to the rest of the team.” Jack handed Brock a bottle of Gatorade as he provided the info quickly, knowing Brock wouldn’t let the medic tend him until his team was seen to.

Brock just nodded, exhaustion clear in his every move. The medic moved in as Jack helped Brock remove his tactical vest and shirt to reveal bruises scattered across his chest and back and a large cut across his left bicep. “Status report.”

As the medic began to clean the cut, Jack reported the status of the mission. “Target is secure. Johnson took a bullet to the leg, medics report he will be out several weeks. Owens just twisted her ankle but she’s been placed on desk duty for the next year. Turns out her nausea wasn’t a bug. The others have the usual assortment of minor injuries, but nothing needing more than three stitches.” He looked down at the cut the medic was beginning to stitch closed. “Looks like you’ll get at least twice that. I checked in with HQ to let them know the mission is complete.” Jack waited for the medic to finish tending to Brock before sitting down beside him on the deck. “Daisy asked me to deliver a message to you. Seems your soulmate asked her why you’ve been avoiding her.”

“She told her?”

“Yeah. Daisy says Samantha told her you might as well stop waiting because she might never get used to all of this. C’mon boss, least try to be friends.”

Brock finished off the Gatorade, then let Jack pull him back to his feet. “After we debrief and clean up. She doesn’t need to see me looking like this. Wake me when we get back to the States.” Brock settled onto a bench and leaned back, closing his eyes and quickly drifting off to sleep.

Jack woke him a few hours later as they re-entered American airspace. The quinjet touched down on the helicarrier high above New York City and Brock led his team off to debrief as a crew moved in to clean and restock the quinjet.

~~~~

Brock wanted nothing more than a shower and to sleep for hours after he finished debrief. A week of being on the run on foreign soil meant he was running on empty. He unlocked the door to his apartment and headed for his room, not even bothering with a light. He tossed his gear into the corner of his room and stripped as he headed for the shower. Turning on the hot water, he let it run over his body, soothing the aches of sore muscles and bruises before quickly washing off. He toweled dry as he headed for bed, stopping by the sink to put a clean bandage over the stitches in his arm. He pulled on clean boxers and grabbed a bottle of juice from the mini-fridge he kept in the room. Downing it quickly, he stretched out across the bed and was soon fast asleep.

His internal clock woke him shortly after dawn and he groaned as his stomach made itself known, rumbling loudly. Forcing himself from the bed, pulled on a pair of shorts before heading for the kitchen, stopping in surprise at the sight of his kitchen table. A tablecloth he didn’t recognize was draped across it while it was set for two with a pair of candles in the center. Confused, he just stood there until he heard a noise coming from the couch. Turning toward the living room, he saw Samantha’s cat Jewel stretching on the arm. Moving closer, he found Samantha curled up asleep under the throw he usually kept folded across the back. She looked so relaxed and peaceful he didn’t want to wake her. He could wait to find out why she was in his apartment.

Making his way into the kitchen, Brock opened the fridge to find a lemon meringue pie on the top shelf. A bowl of salad was on the next shelf, alongside bottles of dressing. Continuing to quietly explore the kitchen, Brock soon discovered lasagna and bread in the oven. He pulled the bread out and turned the oven on to warm up the lasagna. Jewel continued to watch him quietly and he poured the cat a small bowl of cream and opened a can of chicken from the cabinet. Brock started the coffeepot as Jewel joined him and soon he was drinking a hot cup as the cat ate.

~~~~

Samantha stirred restlessly in her sleep, soft noises filtering through into her subconscious. Nothing really got to her until she heard soft whistling. Her eyes flew open as she froze, not recognizing where she was at first. She calmed quickly at a soft meow and the feeling of Jewel nudging at her arm. As Jewel began to purr, she remembered the night before and her plans to surprise Brock with dinner. She sat up slowly, not sure how Brock would respond to her. She turned toward the source of the whistling, finding Brock rinsing out something in the sink. She frowned at the bruises covering his back although his muscular legs were very nice to see this early.

“I’m not gonna bite your head off for being here. Want a cup of coffee? Or would you rather keep staring at my ass?” 

Samantha blushed deeply at being caught. “It wasn’t your ass I was staring at.” She knew Brock was highly trained after the time spent with the other ladies but figured if he was teasing her, it should be fine to approach him. “Is this normal after a mission, the bruises and all?” She was proud of the way she managed to keep her voice steady as she spoke. 

Brock wanted to lie, he could hear the fear in her voice. “This is normal. I usually come home bruised and banged up but I have had worse. Been more than a few times Jack brought us back cause I was out of commission.” He turned around to face her and she could see the bruising spread around his chest. He pointed at a scar near the middle of his chest. “I took a bullet here, I was undercover and couldn’t wear any protection. The op went bad and I covered a civilian.” He pointed out more scars, this time on his legs as Samantha drew closer. “More gunshots. We don’t have anything to protect our legs but the tac suits.”

The oven timer went off and Brock turned around to remove the lasagna. “How did you know I liked lasagna?”

“Daisy invited me to ladies night. You’re not upset are you?”

“Why would I be? They wouldn’t tell you anything classified and I haven’t exactly been around for you to ask. Smells good and I’m starving. Wanna join me for breakfast?”

Samantha laughed, “Lasagna for breakfast?”

Brock pretended to be grumpy but he kept a smile on his face. “Why not? I’m hungry and I love lasagna. I’ll skip the salad but the pie looks delicious too.”

Samantha joined Brock at the table as he cut a large portion and then a smaller portion for her. She waited nervously for him to take a bite, wondering if he would honestly enjoy it.

“Where’d you get this?” He took another bite, clearly enjoying the lasagna.

“It’s my grandmother’s recipe. Same with the pie.”

He stopped eating in surprise. “You cooked for me? Sweetheart, if this is anything to go by, I’m gonna have to put in more hours in the gym.”

Samantha laughed and began to eat. The two of them spent the rest of the meal getting to know each other better, exchanging stories of their childhoods. They cleaned up the dishes afterward and Brock invited Samantha to stay but warned he was likely to doze off watching tv. 

“I promised to let Natasha teach me a few things today, but I’d like to come back later.” 

She turned to head for the door but Brock took her hand. “Samantha, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve someone as sweet as you as a soulmate. Even if we end just as friends, I think you got the short end of it.” He pulled her closer, noticing the way her pulse quickened in her throat. “I won’t push you into anything but I really want to kiss you.”

Samantha wet her lips and tipped her head back slightly, “What are you waiting for?”

Brock leaned in, intending to give her just a quick kiss but he was lost as soon as their lips met. He could feel his soulmark tingle as he slipped his tongue between her lips. His body felt too warm when her hands wrapped around his waist. He wanted to carry her to his bed right then but a wolf whistle from down the hall stopped him. He pulled away reluctantly, his pupils blown wide with desire as his heart raced. When he looked at Samantha, he noticed right away that she was just as affected by the kiss as him. “You better go, sweetheart, we’re not ready for this yet, but I’ll be waiting for you.”

Samantha walked down the hall in a slight daze, wanting to stay with Brock but knowing that he was right. Brock waited until the elevator doors closed behind her to close his door, smiling happily. And if he dreamed of her, he’d never tell anyone what he imagined.


End file.
